Thanks Sten, now I understand what this project really is, could be an important thing for me ... how to reopen the schools and conservatories of music go in the section of the lute to talk with teachers and hoping for a form of interest then that obviously is not philological tool!
now I hope to find a musician who could play well enough to make a recording or video.
For the design, I wanted to exploit the larger area of the soundboard because even on a normal-sized classical guitar is easy to get 82 -85 Hz the length of the first harmonic in the soundboard!
I would ask if you want to show me the possibilities and measures up to an instrument altoguitars, I have doubts about the length - the width of the house is not that high at the bottom and the handle .... and of course what I understood the pitch of the 6 string is 57cm!? This to resize my next project is to produce a closer and comparable to yours.
I do not think the market for these instruments but I enjoyed many achievements with firm satisfaction!
When I started this project I tried to prove three key things for me. measure of cash, soundboard finishing holes inclined moved as (a famous Italian violin maker Maestro Garrone uses it) and paint.
I would say great start because the draft was only a sketchy sketch from notes taken by your master luthiers! sin than it has ever seen by a neighbor altoguitars, but who knows in the future ....
Greetings Walter

Hello Walter,

You asked about the measures of my alto guitars. I have two almost identical alto guitars, because I want to have string number three tuned differently. Both my alto guitars are constructed by Georg Bolin, and one of them is built by him, and the other is built by his apprentice Jörgen Hedman.

Here in my country cottage I have the Hedman alto guitar with me, and I have measured it for you with a folding rule, so there may be a measurement error of at least about + - 1 mm. These are the measures:

Total length of the whole instrument: 1000 mm

Body length: 465 mm

Body width:
- Bulge below "waist" : 364 mm
- "Waist": 241 mm
- Bulge above "waist": 274 mm

Body depth: 96 mm

Neck width:
- At first common "nut" fret: 97 mm
- At the end of the neck at the soundhole: 123 mm

Neck thickness: This was difficult to measure, so the result is uncertain, but at the first fret it was about 23 mm, and perhaps a little thicker nearer the body.

String lenghths:
- Strings 1 - 7: 570 mm
- String 8: 633 mm
- String 9: 677 mm
- String 10: 712 mm
- String 11: 759 mm

James (tenvec) often says that string number 8 should be of the same length as strings 1 - 7, and I agree that there is an advantage with that.

I also attach a picture of the Hedman alto guitar (the same one as I measured).

If you want to know more about my alto guitars, then please ask, and I will try to answer.

Best regards,
Sten

hanks Sten, very kind, measures will be very important to me and one mm + or - I do not think will change the instrument ...
I'd like to know your own guitar maker, also see and hear ... I must say I'm excited about this tool!
much better then the guitar you have, are important to the cutaway?? by something more instrument??
greetings Walter

Hello Walter,

The maker of my alto guitar, Jörgen Hedman, made only this instrument in 1992 as a qualifying peace of work for his examination from the Carl Malmsten guitar building school in Stockholm, Sweden. He said that "There was no market", and surely we had an economical crisis in Sweden in 1992. So Jörgen Hedman took another job. The Carl Malmsten guitar building school closed in 2006 and exists no more, unfortunately. But there are people in Sweden making alto guitars, like
- Roger Strömberg at Luleå http://hem.passagen.se/rogerst/ (he makes them first and sells them then, so the delivery time is short)
- Henrik Jansson in Stockholm http://www.handcraftedguitars.se/
- Lars Jönsson in Stockholm http://www.luthier.se/ (he has a long queue and builds also lutes and other instruments)
, and there are a few more who are ready to make them like
- Anders Uppström at Eksjö http://www.uppstromguitars.se/
- Joel Jedström at Näsviken www.musikteknik.com/ (this website does not seem to work right now)
I have talked to these people by telephone, but I do not know them personally.

Tomorrow I will make a short visit at home, and I hope to have time then to measure my other alto guitar made by Georg Bolin, and give you the results of the measurement. By the way, Roger Strömberg makes alto guitars with string lentgths 570 - 590 mm for strings #1 - #7, so the string length can be different with different instruments.

You asked about the importance of the cutaway. Well, I am not sure about that. I do not think that a cutaway is necessary, because I have not yet needed it. Perhaps other members of this web community have an opinion on this? Lars Jönsson has an own alto guitar model without cutaway.

Best regards,
Sten

Thanks Sten, you're very kind in your willingness to give me this valuable information, now I'm in love with this instrument and the more sound (even without knowledge of what's really playing arrangements or leave) the more I realize its freshness in a total innovation music scene like the present! certain that my fellow musicians have been denied saying that they can play!?
I do not pose problems, not a musician and I listen!

the fact that I ask is because it can economically apply a similar tool??
it is obvious that only the first, but the models that have played that value?
I'm a total autodidact who took books and the Internet as a source of study and then practice, but unfortunately no one has taught me more in my work to quantify.
for classical guitars I have some comparisons, but this altoguitars guitars as I have no idea because I have not seen your love I come from.
thanks again availability.
Greetings Walte

Hello Walter,

I am now home for a while, and I have measured my Bolin alto guitar from 1974 for you with a folding rule, so there may be a measurement error of at least about + - 1 mm. These are the measures:

Total length of the whole instrument: 995 mm

Body length: 467 mm

Body width:
- Bulge below "waist" : 365 mm
- "Waist": 230 mm
- Bulge above "waist": 265 mm

"Waist" distance from the lower edge of the body: approximately 275 mm

Body depth: 92 mm near the neck and 98 mm near the lower part of the body.

Soundhole diameter: 88 mm
Soundhole distance from the upper edge of the body: 100 mm

Neck width:
- At first common "nut" fret: 97 mm
- At the end of the neck at the soundhole: 120 mm

Neck thickness: This was difficult to measure, so the result is uncertain, but at the first fret it was about 23 mm, and perhaps a little thicker nearer the body.

String lenghths:
- Strings 1 - 7: 570 mm
- String 8: 640 mm
- String 9: 678 mm
- String 10: 720 mm
- String 11: 762 mm

James (tenvec) often says that string number 8 should be of the same length as strings 1 - 7, and I agree that there is an advantage with that.

I do not have a good picture of my Bolin alto guitar, so I attach an old picture of its soundhole, with dust

You wrote in an earlier message that you wanted to listen to alto guitars being played. This can be done via Youtube.com
Here are a couple of hits when I searched Youtube for "Söllscher altgitarr": http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kn0d0NEa740 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a_a9irWZtxQ
Göran Söllscher is a Swedish guitar professor who has performed concerts and recorded CDs with a Bolin alto guitar.

If you want to know more about my alto guitars, then please ask, and I will try to answer.

Best regards,
Sten